How do I solve the numerator in the mean square radius integral?

  • Thread starter Thread starter sniffer
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Integration Qm
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
2 replies · 2K views
sniffer
Messages
112
Reaction score
0
if i want to calculate mean square radius by using:
[tex] \rho^2=\frac{\int \mid\psi\mid^2 r^2 dr}{\int |\psi|^2 dr}[/tex]
with [itex]\psi=\sum_{k} a_k exp(ikr)[/itex].

How do I solve the numerator part?
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
Have you considered integrating by parts?

Carl
 


To solve the numerator part, we first need to substitute the given wavefunction \psi into the expression for mean square radius. This gives us:

\rho^2=\frac{\int \mid\sum_{k} a_k exp(ikr)\mid^2 r^2 dr}{\int |\sum_{k} a_k exp(ikr)|^2 dr}

Next, we need to expand the square of the wavefunction using the complex conjugate. This gives us:

\rho^2=\frac{\int \sum_{k} a_k^* exp(-ikr) \sum_{k'} a_{k'} exp(ik'r) r^2 dr}{\int \sum_{k} a_k^* exp(-ikr) \sum_{k'} a_{k'} exp(ik'r) dr}

We can then simplify the numerator by using the product rule for integration and separating the terms with different values of k and k'. This gives us:

\rho^2=\frac{\sum_{k} \sum_{k'} a_k^* a_{k'} \int exp(-ikr) exp(ik'r) r^2 dr}{\sum_{k} \sum_{k'} a_k^* a_{k'} \int exp(-ikr) exp(ik'r) dr}

Now, we can use the fact that \int exp(-ikr) exp(ik'r) dr=2\pi\delta(k-k') to simplify the expression further. This yields:

\rho^2=\frac{\sum_{k} a_k^* a_k \int r^2 dr}{\sum_{k} a_k^* a_k \int dr}

Finally, we can solve the integrals in the numerator and denominator to get:

\rho^2=\frac{\sum_{k} a_k^* a_k \frac{r^3}{3}\Bigg|_0^\infty}{\sum_{k} a_k^* a_k r\Bigg|_0^\infty}

Since the wavefunction is expected to be normalized, i.e. \int |\psi|^2 dr=1, we can simplify the expression further to get:

\rho^2=\frac{\sum_{k} a_k^* a_k}{\sum_{k} a_k^* a_k}=1

Therefore, the mean square radius for the given wave